US Housing Stock Continues to Age

The estimated national housing shortage still sits between 1.5 and 7.3 million housing units, according to a report from Construction Coverage, largely due to the downsizing of construction firms and underbuilding that occured as a result of the Great Recession. While housing production has incrementally picked up since then, it has not kept pace with the activity of previous decades, ultimately resulting in an aging housing stock. In fact, over the last two decades, the median age of a home in the U.S. has increased by more than 10 years, from 30 years in 2000 to 43 as of 2024.

The oldest homes are located in the Northeast

The Northeast, which has the least amount of new-home construction activity in recent years, boasts much of the nation’s aging housing stock. The states with the oldest housing stock—New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut—are all located in the Northeast.

This trend is true at the metro level as well. For instance, in Buffalo, N.Y., the median age of a home is 66, and in Pittsburg, Pa., it’s 64. The New York City-Newark, N.J., metro follows with a median age of 63 across its housing stock.

The housing stock is much younger in the South and West

The South and West have seen a significant uptick in new-home construction in recent years as made evident by the age of housing stock in the region. States with the youngest housing stock include Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah, and Idaho.

By metro, Austin, Texas, has the youngest housing stock with a median age of just 19, followed by Raleigh, N.C., with a median age of 22; and then Las Vegas, where homes have a median age of 25 years.